Strangle Hold
by Cheloya
Summary: OLD. Set after Yuusuke regains the three treasures of Reikai. Kurama and Hiei have been magically bound by Koenma at the beginning of their probation, and Kurama feels the need to apologise.


Disclaimer: Don't own Hiei or Kurama. Or anything else from YYH.

A/N: I don't know, it just occurred to me that Kurama would probably be enough of a sentimental fool to apologise. That and I was wondering what happened to them between being put on probation and going to save Yukina. ; Sometimes my mind does strange things. Especially once I start listening to "Eien no Requiem".

Strangle Hold

Kurama slid open his window silently. It was late at night and the darkness would have been absolute except for the street light that peered almost anxiously around the corner of his house. Kurama smirked. As though it had realised that he was about to invite a particularly uptight and volatile demon into his bedroom.

Not that the streetlight was the only thing keeping the night from being pitch black. An electrical storm had been brewing for two days, and it had finally let loose its fury. It was closer than Kurama wanted it to be. There were a lot of trees out there getting fried at this moment, and if he stretched out his senses, he could feel the searing bolt of energy just before a blankness. He'd felt trees die before, but it was still disturbing when it happened all at once like that. He thanked Inari he'd never been close to any forest fires.

In the face of the storm - and the fact that it was about to start bucketing down rain - he had decided that Hiei would have to come inside. Since Koenma had decreed that the two demons would be placed under probation and had rightly thought Kurama the more trustworthy of the two, the shorter demon had been magically bound to Kurama until Koenma had his measure. Needless to say, Hiei had not been pleased about this. Once they'd been safely returned to Kurama's room, courtesy of some 'fancy' - terrifying - flying by Botan, his first act had been to use the Jagan to remove the damn bond at _once_.

This had resulted in a magical boom that had left the fire demon unconscious for the better part of the afternoon and Kurama with an impressive headache. The fox demon had dutifully stowed Hiei underneath his desk, covered him to his chin with a blanket and stacked up as many books and bags as possible around the desk, just in case Shiori came in unexpectedly. Of course this plan backfired somewhat because as soon as Hiei woke up, he fought his way out from underneath the desk, scattering books left, right and centre. It had taken all of Kurama's persuasion just to calm him down, and all his patience to realign the books. Damn his pedancy.

After that, Hiei had attempted just to walk away. Kurama thought that this was going relatively well until, about fifty twenty metres from the house, Hiei suddenly stopped walking. Kurama had watched as Hiei held his hands pressed to the air in front of him, as though there was a sheet of glass in his way. Hiei punched it lightly, then leaned against it. This looked quite ridiculous from where Kurama stood at his window, as the fire demon was more or less sagged completely forward with his shoulders pressed against the invisible barrier.

He was considerably less amused when, thirty seconds later, he had been violently yanked into the branches of the tree outside his window. The fire demon had charged the barrier with all his speed and strength. Far from breaking the barrier, Hiei had succeeded only in annoying the Youko and causing him to tear his shirt. Kurama sniffed at the memory, displeased despite himself. That shirt hadn't exactly been cheap. And how was he supposed to explain that to 'Kaasan? It wasn't as though he was clumsy.

Kurama just stood at his window for a few seconds, watching the night. "Hiei. You're welcome to come inside, you know." The fire demon was practically invisible in the shadowy limbs of the tree, his youki completely repressed. But Kurama's eyes found Hiei, incongruous as he was with the bark and the leaves. The glowing red eyes didn't help him either.

The dark red dots swivelled slightly to watch the red head as he stood at his window, apparently merely enjoying the night air. Kurama was a master of deceit. Hiei blinked once, slowly, and said, "Why?"

Kurama's eyes didn't shift. He gave no indication that he had heard anything from behind the shadowy boughs of the tree. But after a moment he licked his lips. "Because if I'm not much mistaken, the storm is coming closer. And I'd hardly like to have a charred corpse bound to me until Koenma remembers to get rid of it." Now green eyes found red in the darkness and Hiei realised that this had been a joke. "It's going to rain, quite hard. I thought you might prefer to be out of the storm."

Hiei closed his eyes. "Feh."

Kurama's lips twitched into a bare smile. "Well, the offer stands." He said softly. "I'm going to get ready for bed. The blanket I covered you with before is folded on the chair, if you need it."

Hiei didn't reply.

When Kurama returned from his shower, he was shirtless and pressing a dark-coloured towel to his stomach. He was scowling fiercely and muttering under his breath. "That knife of yours makes a pretty big hole." He told to Hiei irritably. The fire demon, against his previous words and actions, was huddled in the corner with the blanket tugged half-heartedly around his shoulders. He was dripping wet, as though he had waited in the rain as long as his pragmatic nature would let him. Kurama noticed that the carpet below his window was equally wet, and getting worse every minute as rain streamed through it.

He sighed slightly and went to close it, biting the inside of his cheek as the action pulled at his wound. Hiei made a slight noise of alarm as the window closed. Kurama turned to him with raised eyebrows and noticed the demon looking particularly wary. Kurama could guess his thoughts easily enough.

"Oh, for Inari's sake, Hiei." He said crossly. "I'm not done bleeding from our last encounter. If you insist on assuming everyone's out to get you, at least have the courtesy to believe that I won't kill you in my own mother's house, especially when I'm not at my best." He opened his closet, still pressing the towel to the flesh a little below his ribcage, and began sorting through his closet for dark coloured pyjamas. Finally coming up with an old burgundy set, he tied the towel around his slim waist tight enough that it would hold for a moment, and changed his clothing.

Hiei didn't so much as bother to avert his eyes. "I've found you're more than dangerous enough when you _are_ bleeding." He said blandly. Kurama tried to find the humour in that and failed.

"Listen, Hiei, since we're going to be working together as Reikai Tantei..." He said, pausing so that he wouldn't ruin his words with some sound of pain as he drew on his pajama shirt. "...I'd really _appreciate_ it if you weren't so damn suspicious of me all the time. Particularly since that time I was repaying a debt to Yuusuke." He said, brows drawing together in a frown. Hiei's jaw clenched and he looked away stubbornly. Kurama opened his mouth to say more, and swore instead as he felt a warm, wet trickle down his back. It was considerably thicker than any water would have been from his damp hair. He immediately tried to swab the area with the towel, but only succeeded in spreading the blood from the wound on his back and making his stomach bleed more.

"Ugh... a lose-lose situation..." He muttered in disgust. He certainly couldn't sleep on his white sheets like this. In this frame of mind, he tossed the bloodied towel into the corner and pulled an old, dark blanket from the top of his closet. He hoped his mother wouldn't notice when both items vanished suspiciously.

Kurama lowered himself gingerly to the ground opposite Hiei, brushed a hand through his hair and removed a small plant. It swelled in his hand until it was about the same size as a lettuce with a similar shape. It was dark green with mottled orange-red veins along the leaves. Kurama tore off a couple, rolled up his shirt and set about addressing his wounds, starting with the one he could see. He watched Hiei as he did this, probing his stomach gently with his fingertips as he decided where the leaf would do the most good.. The fire demon stared back blankly, giving nothing away. Kurama had the distinct impression that Hiei thought he had betrayed him.

"I'm sorry for throwing blood in your eyes." The Youko whispered softly. The sentence seemed to catch Hiei off guard. His eyes widened fractionally and he blinked once. "Yuusuke saved my life once, from the Dark Mirror. I wanted to repay the favour." Kurama continued, lowering his too-green eyes to the floor. "I'm very sorry if I disappointed you."

He tore another leaf off the Makai plant and applied this one to his stomach, also, holding the other one still as he did so. Hiei watched silently for a few moments, then stood abruptly. Kurama blinked as the fire demon strode around behind him, resisting the urge to twist to watch him. Hiei seemed to notice this, as he made a sound half of annoyance and half of amusement.

"No need to worry." He said, voice impossibly gruff in that tiny frame. "I'm repaying a favour."

So saying, he snatched the Makai plant from the floor and carefully applied the rest of the leaves to the bleeding hole in Kurama's back. Hiei grimaced at the mess his sword had made of the otherwise smooth and perfect skin. Damn. He held a hand to the sticky leaves to keep them pressed to the flesh and Kurama made a soft sound that might have been pain. Hiei didn't move his hand.

"How do you plan to keep these stuck on?" He asked wryly. In answer, Kurama sighed softly and closed his eyes. Hiei watched as yet another Makai plant grew from the Youko's damp red mane, this one recognizable as Death Grip. It was more or less the Makai version of a strangler fig, except – obviously – about fifty thousand times as dangerous. Hiei withdrew his hand rather quickly.

Kurama smiled at that as the plant twined about his waist and tightened cautiously. It stopped when Kurama let out a grunt of pain and loosened slightly. Kurama rolled his shirt back down and sighed in relief. Outside, there was a brilliant flash of light that illuminated the room more brightly than the single bulb hanging down from Kurama's ceiling.

Kurama stood with a slight wince and walked rather stiffly to the light switch. He smiled at Hiei. "Thanks." He waved a hand at the bed. "Why don't you take it? You're the less bloody of the two of us, even if you are still sopping wet." Hiei looked uncomfortable as Kurama plucked a pillow from the bed and lay down on the floor, pulling his blanket over him neatly. It was chilly, but at least no trees had been fried by lightning in the last half hour. Kurama shifted slightly and smiled as he felt the numbing property of the leaves he'd applied take effect. Hiei paced past him almost silently, sitting down in the corner again. There was a rustle of blankets.

"You got in my way. I didn't think you'd do anything so stupid." He muttered. "I'm sorry I stabbed you." He closed his eyes and his breathing became deep and meditative. Kurama chuckled lightly.

"It's all right, Hiei. Think nothing of it." A pause. "That doesn't mean you can do it again." A soft snort from the corner. Kurama closed his eyes and went to sleep. He thought that if Hiei toned down the snarkiness, he could probably get used to the whole magically bound thing.

A/N: Yeah, pointless. But oh well.


End file.
